RAAMA
ra'-a-ma (ra`ma'): Thus spelled only in 1Ch 1:9; elsewhere "Raamah" (ra`mah). A son of Cush and father of Sheba and Dedan (Ge 10:7 = 1Ch 1:9). In Ezekiel's lament over Tyre (Eze 27:22) the tribe of Raamah is mentioned along with Sheba as a mercantile people who provided the inhabitants of Tyre with spices, precious stones and gold. It has generally been identified with Regina, mentioned by Ptolemy and Steph. Byzantr. as a city in Southeastern Arabia on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The Septuagint (Rhegma) itself supposes this site. But the Arabic name of the city here indicated is spelled with a "g" and so gives rise to a phonological difficulty. A more probable identification has been found in the Sabean ra`mah in Southwestern Arabia near Me`in in the north of Marib. Me`in was the capital of the old Minaean kingdom.

A. S. Fulton

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